Question 1: Beyond rhetoric and slogans, what concrete action or achievements can you point to that distinguish you from other candidates?Long Hair: I have a three-prong strategy: filibusters, public demonstrations and courtroom protests. I’ll continue to use various forms of civil disobedience to force Beijing to back off and accept our demand for self-determination. I’ve stood up to the powerful regime all these ye…

The third instalment of my Legislative Council (Legco) election series covers Kowloon West. I put the same five questions to three choice candidates in the district and see how they stack up against each other.
My top picks in Kowloon West are League of Social Democrats’ Avery Ng Man-yuen 吳文遠(candidate #1), Civic Party’s Claudia Mo Man-ching毛孟靜(candidate #3) and Democracy Groundwork’s Lau Siu-lai 劉小麗(candidate #12). Read Part 1 - Hong Kong Island, Part 2 - Kowloon East, Part 4 - New Territories East and Part 5 - Kowloon West.

Question 1: Beyond rhetoric and slogans, what concrete action or achievements can you point to that distinguish you from other candidates?Avery: I have a track record of social activism and street campaigns. I’ve also been a longtime advocate for the working class fighting for their rights and economic equality.

Claudia: A while back, an anti-stalking bill was submitted to Legco that could have hampered press freedom by making it easier for reporters to be charged…

The second installment of our Legislative Council (Legco) election series takes us to Kowloon East, where three candidates I select from the opposition camp are given an opportunity to make their case to you by answering my five questions.
Incidentally, my top picks in Kowloon East all share the same last name: Tam (none of them is related to each other). They are Frontier’s Mandy Tam Heung-man 譚香文 (candidate #4), Civic Party’s Jeremy Tam Man-ho 譚文豪 (candidate #9) and People Power’s “Fast Beat” Tam Tak-chi 快必譚得志 (candidate #12). Read Part 1 - Hong Kong Island, Part 3 - Kowloon West, Part 4 - New Territories East and Part 5 - Kowloon West.

Question 1: Beyond rhetoric and slogans, what concrete action or achievements can you point to that distinguish you from other candidates?Mandy: I’ve been doing district work in Kowloon East for over 20 years – that’s not a claim that many of my opponents can make. Furthermore, I was a Legco member between 2004 and 2008, which has given me valuable e…

Voters heading to the polling station this September 4th will find a longer ballot than they did in any previous Legislative Council (Legco) elections. In the Kowloon West district, for instance, the number of candidates went from nine in 2012 to 15 this time around. Choosing from a dozen or so candidates in any given district, all sporting the same deep gaze and promising a better future for Hong Kong, can be a dizzying proposition.
Meanwhile, the latest poll numbers from the University of Hong Kong Public Opinion Program put the opposition candidates significantly behind their pro-Beijing rivals. In the New Territories East district, one of the fiercest battlegrounds, the pan-democrats may win only one of the nine available seats. These men and women – our defenders – need all the help they can get on election day.
So read on if you want to steer clear of the pro-Beijing camp and navigate the murky waters of the increasingly diverse (read: fractured) opposition. In this five-part e…

Last week, a Shenzhen district court sentenced Wang Jianmin (王健民), the 62-year-old publisher of Hong Kong-based political tabloids Multiple Face (《臉譜》) and New Way Monthly (《新維月刊》), to five years and three months in prison. His editor-in-chief, 41-year-old Guo Zhongxiao (咼中校), received two years and three months. Their crime? Selling magazines on the mainland without state approval.
The sentencing of the two Hong Kong journalists drew immediate comparison to the abduction of the five booksellers earlier this year. Events that would have been dismissed as isolated incidents now look increasingly like a pattern. They form part of a broader context in which these and future crackdowns on the city’s press freedom must be analyzed.
Yet, did we let the jailed journalists’ domicile temper our public outrage?

I met Guo five years ago on social media. At the time, he was a staff editor for the Hong Kong news magazine Yazhou Zhoukan (《亞洲週刊》or Asia Weekly). His Facebook posts, alternating betwe…

About Me

Born in Hong Kong, Jason is a globe-trotter who spent his entire adult life in Europe and various cities in the United States and Canada before settling back in his birthplace to rediscover his roots.
Jason is a news columnist, a bestselling author, a practicing lawyer and an adjunct law professor. He is the President of PEN Hong Kong and a member of the Progressive Lawyers Group.
Jason lives in Hong Kong and can be contacted at info@jasonyng.com. For more, visit www.jasonyng.com.

About this site

As I See It is a biweekly column that began in 2008 as a social commentary on Hong Kong's many contradictions and oddities. It also tackles the city's pressing social, political and existential issues. Jason's articles are reproduced in the online edition of the South China Morning Post and are frequently cited by overseas news media.

Umbrellas in Bloom

Umbrellas in Bloom, the first book published in English to chronicle the occupy movement of 2014 and the last instalment of Jason Y. Ng's Hong Kong trilogy, debuts No.1 on Amazon.com in the Hong Kong History category. It is all you need to know about the biggest political upheaval in post-handover Hong Kong: who took part in it, why it happened, how it transpired, and what it did and did not achieve.

No City for Slow Men

Published in 2013, No City for Slow Men examines some of the pressing social, cultural and existential issues facing Hong Kong. It is a treatise on local life that is thought-provoking, touching and immensely entertaining.

HK State of Mind

Published in 2010, HONG KONG State of Mind is a collection of essays that zeroes in on the city’s idiosyncrasies with deadpan precision. It promises something for everyone: a travel journal for the passing visitor, a user’s manual for the wide-eyed expat, and an open diary for the native Hong Konger looking for moments of reflection.